FEATURE
BREEDING GREATER BLUE EARED GLOSSY STARLINGS
Glossy which turned out to be a cock and the rest Blue-eared Glossy Starlings, some of which appeared to be slightly larger and the others smaller with a greener sheen. They were all housed together for some months in a fairly large aviary with Sumatran Laughing Thrushes. The Laughing Thrushes were quite well behaved with the Starlings, but the latter would often squabble amongst themselves and pick on various individuals in turn. It soon became apparent that I had a dominant pair, the cock being slightly larger than the hen. The two of them would bow and scrape to each other making little squeaks and for the most part being very friendly, although on occasions even these two would squabble.
A
t one of the Stafford shows I managed to buy five Glossy Starlings. One was a Purple
I was fairly confident I had a breeding
pair, so gave them an aviary to themselves approximately 16ft x 5ft covered except for the end which is open to the elements and faces east. Two nest boxes were provided one open fronted and the other a Parakeet type with bob hole – this one was put in at a slight angle and was the one they chose to lay their first clutch of three eggs in, in late May. Dried grasses, evergreen leaves, moss and feathers were used to build the nest. I feed them on standard softbill food, pellets of various types and flavours, chopped fruit, sweetcorn, wax moth larvae and mealworms. For some reason they do not appear to be very interested in crickets which surprised me. All three eggs hatched, but how long incubation had taken I could not be certain since the young were very quiet in the nest, but you
BIRD SCENE 11
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